


always seeking, always bleeding

by nounderscore



Category: Dead Space (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, M/M, References to body horror, canon character death, slight lexine/mcneil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nounderscore/pseuds/nounderscore
Summary: “Another long night, eh, Weller?”Gabe grits his teeth and stares determinedly at the ceiling.“You’re dead, McNeill,” he reminds the apparition frostily. “Do me a favor and rest in bloody peace, will you.”
Relationships: Lexine Murdoch-Weller/Gabe Weller, Nathan McNeill/Gabe Weller
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	always seeking, always bleeding

Gabe has never needed much sleep. Power naps are second nature to every Resource Wars vet out there, he reckons, but five or six hours a night are all Gabe needs to function at his best.

It’s been weeks since Gabe was at his best.

“Another long night, eh, Weller?”

Gabe grits his teeth and stares determinedly at the ceiling.

“You’re dead, McNeill,” he reminds the apparition frostily. “Do me a favor and rest in bloody peace, will you.”

“Shh, it’s not good to talk to back to your hallucination,” McNeill laughs. “Don’t wanna give EarthGov any more reason to keep you in their crosshairs than they already have. There’s what, half a dozen bugs in your bedroom alone? They’re watching you, Gabe.”

Gabe wants to snap that he’s plenty well aware of that, _thank_ you, McNeill. He’s been watched ever since he hit the Sprawl, him and Lexine both. By the Unitologists, as well, though what any of them want with Gabe he can only guess. He’s seen enough cover ups to know it is in his and Lexine’s best interests to keep quiet and lay low, else they end up like the unfortunate Dr. Cho.

He knows why they keep tabs on Lexine.

“Speaking of Lexine,” McNeill says conversationally, “why haven’t you told her about Eckhardt yet?”

It’s hard to look at McNeill when he phases through all the different times Gabe has known him: the brave soldier who pulled his ass out of a firefight, the trusted comrade who lost a hand saving Gabe and Lexine’s lives, and the awful creature that Lexine was forced to put down.

It tears at Weller, the injustice of it all, Nate dead and himself alive.

His jaw clenches, and he does not respond, because McNeill doesn’t need words to know what Gabe is thinking.

“You want to keep her safe, but you’re afraid to get too close. Too bad you’re already in deep, aren’t you, Weller?”

Lexine’s immunity makes her of special _interest_ to too many dangerous people neither she nor Gabe have the resources to fight. Not yet.

But they don’t know Gabe knows, and when he tells Lexine, he has to make sure they don’t know that either.

Gabe would do anything to keep Lexine safe.

“You should ask her out,” McNeill advises sagely. The words are almost enough to drown out the blood curdling sharpening of a Slasher’s blades, there one moment, gone again where one, sometimes both of Nate’s hands are instead. Gabe’s head whips around to stare incredulously at McNeill’s ghost.

“What? She likes you.” Gabe shifts uncomfortably beneath the sheets.

 _Only because you’re dead and I’m not_ , he thinks bitterly.

Nate shifts to his side, and Gabe doesn’t flinch at the squelch of rotting flesh. There will be no remainder of it in the morning.

“You’re a softie under that asshole exterior, Gabe. Lexine knows it like I did,” McNeill says fondly. “Remember when you kissed me after I saved your life?”

“I remember you running for the hills,” Gabe retorts thickly, unable to remain silent at the memory. His own mind using one of the few good moments in the whole war against him; it figures.

“When we met again on Aegis VII, I wanted to ask you that.” McNeill pauses. “It was a nice kiss. Lexine could appreciate it.”

It’s not true of course. This is all in Gabe’s head, he’s pretty sure, so he wouldn’t know what the flying fuck Nate thought when he saw Gabe again. If he remembered the kiss, if he ever thought of it at all.

He hasn’t kissed Lexine. Gabe swallows. No, best not to linger on what he can’t have.

“She likes you,” McNeill repeats. His fingers graze Gabe’s arm, soft skin interchanging with the threat of a knife. “You love her. It’s good. You can have good things, Gabe.”

 _Why do you have to be so fucking kind, McNeill?_ A good man, even in death. This is precisely how Gabe should remember him.

“You’re looking after Lexine, and she’ll look after you, when you give her the chance.”

McNeill smiles, as handsome as the day Gabe kissed him, just the once.

“And me? I’ll look after the both of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was written years ago, and I don't actually remember most of what happened in the game, but these three deserve more fic.


End file.
